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Lowell's Noon named to Mass. Cultural Council

By Hiroko Sato, hsato@lowellsun.com

Updated:
12/11/2012 12:42:11 AM EST

LOWELL -- Rosemary Noon understands what it takes to secure state funding for cultural projects. After all, Noon, who became the first director of the Lowell Office of Cultural Affairs in 1988, has sought all sorts of grants to help turn the Mill City into a full-fledged hub of working artists in her 25-year career in cultural development.

Now, Noon will be on the receiving end of grant applications, as she will begin serving as one of the newest members of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

"It will be interesting to participate from the other side of the table," Noon said of the funding mechanism. "It will be fascinating to look at the entire state and how cultural events and activities are supported."

The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) announced Monday that Gov. Deval Patrick has appointed Rosemary Noon as well as Sam Slater of Boston to the Council. The Lowell resident, who currently serves as the assistant director of the Lowell Plan, Inc., a nonprofit economic development organization, has extensive experience in cultural-affairs planning and management, art history, museum studies education and communications. Her nomination came from Sen. Eileen Donoghue, D-Lowell, Noon said.

"I'm delighted that Governor Patrick has appointed Rosemary Noon to the MCC," Donoghue said in the MCC's press release. "Her work as an arts educator, consultant, administrator, and tireless advocate for culture in Lowell over the past 30 years makes her an extraordinary addition.

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A Regis College graduate, Noon holds a master's degree in art history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and is a former Loeb Fellow at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. At Regis, she was the first director of a new fine arts center before serving as the director of communications and cultural affairs. She also taught art history courses and co-directed the Museum Studies Program at Regis and has served as curator of the college's Carney Art Gallery since 1993.

Noon, who lives in Lowell with her husband Paul Marion and their son Joe, is a trustee of the Lowell Cemetery, board member of the Pollard Memorial Library Foundation, and the current chair of the New England Quilt Museum.

Noon said Lowell has changed over the years, becoming "a destination for many visual arts." From the Western Avenue Studios with five floors fully occupied with artists to the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, to a wide range of concerts, Lowell has diverse activities to offer, she said.

"We were advocating for quality of life" by promoting art back in the 1980s, Noon said. "Now, people talk about creative economy."

Noon said her appointment adds a representative for the area north of Boston on the MCC. While she is a "Lowell centric" for now, she will try to look at the big picture of what is going on the arts scenes across the state, Noon said.

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